Development and Use of a Real-Time Quantitative PCR Method for Detecting and Quantifying Equol-Producing Bacteria in Human Faecal Samples and Slurry Cultures.

This work introduces a novel real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) protocol for detecting and quantifying equol-producing bacteria. To this end, two sets of primers targeting the dihydrodaidzein reductase () and tetrahydrodaidzein reductase () genes, which are involved in the synthesis of equol, were designed. The primers showed high specificity and sensitivity when used to examine DNA from control bacteria, such as , and .